Viktor E. Frankl Quotes

The last of human freedoms - the ability to chose one's attitude in a given set of circumstances.

~ Viktor E. Frankl

Challenging the meaning of life is the truest expression of the state of being human.

~ Viktor E. Frankl

A man who becomes conscious of the responsibility he bears toward a human being who affectionately waits for him, or to an unfinished work, will never be able to throw away his life. He knows the 'why' for his existence, and will be able to bear almost any 'how.'

~ Viktor E. Frankl

If there is a meaning in life at all, then there must be a meaning in suffering. Suffering is an ineradicable part of life, even as fate and death. Without suffering and death, human life cannot be complete.

~ Viktor E. Frankl

Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it.

~ Viktor E. Frankl

To the European, it is a characteristic of the American culture that, again and again, one is commanded and ordered to 'be happy.' But happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue. One must have a reason to 'be happy.'

~ Viktor E. Frankl

Religion is the search for ultimate meaning.

~ Viktor E. Frankl

Live as if you were living a second time, and as though you had acted wrongly the first time.

~ Viktor E. Frankl

There is nothing in the world, I venture to say, that would so effectively help one to survive even the worst conditions as the knowledge that there is a meaning in one's life.

~ Viktor E. Frankl

Fear may come true that which one is afraid of.

~ Viktor E. Frankl

A thought transfixed me: for the first time in my life, I saw the truth as it is set into song by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers. The truth - that love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire.

~ Viktor E. Frankl

In a position of utter desolation, when man cannot express himself in positive action, when his only achievement may consist in enduring his sufferings in the right way - an honorable way - in such a position man can, through loving contemplation of the image he carries of his beloved, achieve fulfillment.

~ Viktor E. Frankl

Faith is trust in ultimate meaning.

~ Viktor E. Frankl

For the meaning of life differs from man to man, from day to day and from hour to hour. What matters, therefore, is not the meaning of life in general but rather the specific meaning of a person's life at a given moment.

~ Viktor E. Frankl

Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life; everyone must carry out a concrete assignment that demands fulfillment. Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated, thus, everyone's task is unique as his specific opportunity to implement it.

~ Viktor E. Frankl

We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread.

~ Viktor E. Frankl

When we are no longer able to change a situation - we are challenged to change ourselves.

~ Viktor E. Frankl

When we are no longer able to change a situation - just think of an incurable disease such as an inoperable cancer - we are challenged to change ourselves.

~ Viktor E. Frankl